Dominick Dill-Reese was having a tough day. So when he and his mom went out for dinner at Applebee’s, Dominick relaxed the only way he knew how.
He kicked back and filled his sippy cup with one of Applebee’s finest signature margaritas.

For many people, a chain-restaurant’s finest margarita is a fine way to put an end to a rough day. But Dominick Dill-Reese is only 15-months-old. His mother ordered him an apple juice and they served him a margarita.

The mishap was blamed on a simple error – the margarita mix was stored in a bottle labeled “apple juice”. I understand that mistakes happen but I can’t help but wonder why nobody picked up on this. After all, this is not the first time this has happened at an Applebee’s. The same situation occurred at a New York location in 2006, and at a California location in 2007. Somehow the margarita got to Dominick. He took enough sips to wind up with a BAC of .17 – over the limit for an adult driver – and wound up with his head down on the table, drifting in and out of sleep. When he woke up he was saying “hi” and “bye” to total strangers with a smile.

I am willing to accept that the server or bartender in question grabbed a bottle with the words “Apple Juice” and poured it into a cup thinking that it was apple juice. Perhaps they were busy and not paying attention. But the point is that Applebee’s dropped the ball by serving alcohol to a 15-month-old.

Is Dominick’s mother wrong here? Maybe, maybe not.

If you have ever watched your son or daughter taste something new, you know the reactions are priceless. When a child tastes something they don’t like, you can read it clearly on their face. I cannot imagine a 15-month-old child tasting a margarita and not making that face.

My family has eaten at various chain restaurants and we have ordered apple juice before. The server would bring the juice to the table, usually in a cup with a straw. We would open the juice and pour it into one of the kids’ colorful cups. On most occasions, sight and smell verified that beverage was in fact the same thing we ordered and not an alcoholic pick-me-up. It is not a matter of not trusting the restaurant (although now how can you not check?) but more a matter of checking what our kids were being served.

You have a number of responsible parties that should have caught this before things got out of hand. The restaurant should have made sure it knew what was going to the table. The mother should have known what was in her son’s cup. Someone at that table should have read the boy’s reaction when he first tasted the drink.

Pointing fingers is easy. Looking at things in hindsight is relatively risk-free. But in this particular situation I can’t help but think that Applebee’s is in the wrong here. They have issued the requisite apology and stated that they are retraining their employees nationwide in light of the mistake that was made. But this is the third time they were unable to tell the difference between a margarita and an apple juice. If Applebee’s had changed their practices after the first incident, Dominick Dill-Reese would have had a much nicer dinner with his mother.